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Adjectives modify nouns, and sometimes pronouns, and always end with an −A. Some words are adjectives by nature, like longa (long), and some are other parts of speech converted to adjectives by changing the ending to −A (or by adding this ending to a particle, which has no ending to begin with).
Changing an adjective to a noun generally creates a word that names the quality. Changing it to an adverb gives a word that indicates the manner in which something is done. Changing it to a verb is usually the equivalent of using the verb esti (to be) with the adjective. So from kvieta (quiet) we can get kvieto (quietness), kviete (quietly), and kvieti (to be quiet).
When an adjective modifies a noun, it has the same plural and accusative endings as that noun: La malsataj hundoj ĉasis la rapidan kuniklon (The hungry dogs chased the fast rabbit).
The adjective may come before or after the noun. If there are two or more adjectives modifying one noun, one or more may come before it, and the rest after it.
A predicate adjective is singular or plural, according to whether the subject is singular or plural: La tablo estas blua; la seĝoj estas ruĝaj (The table is blue; the chairs are red).
Predicatives do not take the accusative ending: Li farbis la pordon blua (He painted the door blue), but Li farbis la pordon bluan (He painted the blue door).
There may be two or more singular adjectives modifying a plural noun: la blua kaj verda libroj (the blue and green books [one of each color]).
The adjective ending added to a number forms an ordinal number: unua (first), dudek kvina (twenty-fifth), etc.
Comparison of adjectives works very much as in English. English can either add a suffix “−er” or “−est” to the adjective to form comparative and superlative forms, or put the words “more” or “most” in front of them. Esperanto uses the second method, using the words pli and plej.
| positive | comparative | superlative |
|---|---|---|
| riĉa rich |
pli riĉa richer |
la plej riĉa the richest |
| inteligenta intelligent |
pli inteligenta more intelligent |
la plej inteligenta the most intelligent |
| bona good |
pli bona better |
la plej bona the best |
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